Chapter 542: Chapter 394 Dominator_2
However, for this reason, the plantation area surrounding Kyoto gradually got abandoned by the original contractors. After all, even if they sowed seeds, the insect infestation basically occurred every month, and each time it would cause irreparable damage to the plantation area. In the face of such a situation, what normal person would still have the heart to reseed? Everyone thought of waiting for this round of insect disasters to end before starting to cultivate again.
Because they abandoned those plantation areas, the survivors who originally contracted them now found themselves with little to do, gathering spontaneously in the campsites. At this time, the campsites, once sparsely populated, were now bustling with activity.
Dong Tianyu got into the second-hand car that Yara had somehow procured. Perhaps because the battle was about to begin, there were hardly any vehicles on the street, and the two of them reached the suburban campsite unimpeded.
Before even getting out of the car, Dong Tianyu had already habitually used his Divine Sense to scan the campsite ahead.
Perhaps only intended to serve the survivors who contracted the nearby plantation areas, the campsite’s area wasn’t large. At this moment, though bustling with noise, the campsite held just over a thousand survivors, most of them in their prime, with hardly any elderly or children.
This was hardly surprising. Although this was the outskirts of Kyoto, it was not very safe after the bug disaster struck. The site was close to the city center, and the population of every city had drastically decreased after the natural disaster.
All these factors combined meant that Kyoto, in order to increase the population base and reduce the mortality rate of survivors, had moved those survivors originally living in the outskirts into Kyoto City, while the outskirts were transformed into plantation areas.
It was for this reason that the few remaining campsites in the outskirts were basically the same as this one, all serving those cultivators contracted in the outskirts of Kyoto.
Since Dong Tianyu had never been here before, he wasn’t clear on the behavior of the survivors within the campsite. But according to Yara’s description, if she wasn’t being neurotic, then it was very likely the work of the Bug Race.
First, let’s clarify one thing. If we were to categorize the Bug Race’s system, it would belong to the category of technology-based bio-side. Thus, those mysterious abilities like hypnotism or illusion could be ruled out.
Moreover, because Dong Tianyu happened to know the origins of the Bug Race that attacked this time, he could use his Divine Sense to conduct a detailed scan without even entering the campsite.
Dong Tianyu randomly selected a few survivors with his Divine Sense and conducted a detailed scan. After three consecutive rounds, he found nothing unusual about them.
He was about to conclude that Yara might have been overreacting and was preparing to end after scanning one more group, when he noticed something wrong with a survivor’s back.
Dong Tianyu inadvertently noticed that the survivor’s back seemed thicker than the others, and a more careful scan with his Divine Sense revealed that there was a creature similar to a spider clinging to the person’s spine.
This creature had entered the man’s body and its four pairs of limb segments tightly embraced the spine, firmly securing itself to the vertebral column.
Then, the tail seemed to secrete many fine threads that connected to the survivor’s nerves. Frankly, the survivor’s body had been taken over by that organism, which could directly control emotions through the neural network.
However, at this time the bug was not controlling him, but rather acting as a relay, quickly familiarizing itself with the daily habits of the person it parasitized through the survivor’s normal activities.
What follows needed no further explanation. Once the creature had fully mastered the other’s daily routine, it could replace him at any time.
While habits could be imitated, personality—a combination of innate characteristics and nurture—is difficult to influence by the Bug Race, which is why Yara detected a flaw.
Having found the first example, and with an actual target to look for, the subsequent scanning became much faster.
"People always say that even the most difficult tasks become much simpler once you make that initial breakthrough."
After that, Dong Tianyu decisively conducted another examination on everyone, and the result was that one-third of the survivors in the camp had this strange creature in their spine.
Although the whole process seemed very time-consuming, thanks to the convenience of Divine Sense, it actually took less than ten minutes to conduct a thorough examination of everyone in the camp.
By the time Dong Tianyu finished his embarrassed moment, Yara only spoke to him after getting out of the vehicle, "Come on down, we’ve made it. Although I always feel there’s something wrong with those people, at this point, let’s first find a warm place to stay, and then start investigating tomorrow."
Seeing Yara say this, and with the experience he just had, Dong Tianyu used Divine Sense to scan her meticulously, and only after confirming that Yara hadn’t been parasitized, did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Alright, don’t go in. I’ve already learned about the situation here through other channels."
Hearing this, Yara immediately looked at Dong Tianyu with guarded eyes, and without asking, it was clear she had misunderstood.
If it had been in the past, no one would have believed such a thing, but in this scenario, Yara not only believed it but was utterly convinced.
Seeing Yara like this, Dong Tianyu pretended to take something out of his ear, but actually brought out a very sophisticated earplug from thin air, and then said to Yara, "See? With this, don’t be fooled by my simple attire, I have quite a few gadgets on me."
Regarding the hidden earpiece Dong Tianyu took from his ear, Yara suddenly felt somewhat off-balance, but at this point, it wasn’t really a problem, as these gadgets could be purchased at any night market before the disaster at a very low price.
But if these gadgets were still functional now, their price would definitely be steep.
After Dong Tianyu proved he had additional sources of information, Yara finally relaxed a bit, but unlike before, she kept a trace of vigilance at the bottom of her heart.
Seeing this, Dong Tianyu understood Yara’s thoughts and said again, "Don’t be nervous. You guessed right; parts of the people in the camp are indeed acting abnormally.
However, those people aren’t the problem. Instead, it’s many of the people who act as they always have who are having issues."
Hearing this, Yara asked Dong Tianyu impatiently, "How did your people find the problem inside? Aren’t you worried, or did you find some genuinely useful evidence?"
Seeing Dong Tianyu shake his head, Yara clearly became much more disheartened.
Just as Yara was about to get back into the car and take Dong Tianyu back, Dong Tianyu’s voice came from the passenger seat, "At least one-third of the people in the camp have issues. To confirm which people have problems, you can use Inner Breath to check, or take them directly to the Hospital for an X-ray, targeting the spine."
After hearing Dong Tianyu casually mention two ways to distinguish, Yara was shocked, then immediately took out his phone and called his father.
After the phone connected and a brief exchange of pleasantries, Yara spoke thoroughly about the issues he uncovered.
Following Yara’s narrative, there came a sudden silence on the part of Yara’s father, which lasted quite a while before Yara’s father’s inquiry came through, "Is what you’re saying true, and do those two methods really work?"
